Jasmine Bharati Mukherjee

The novel Jasmine by Bharati Mukherjee, is a compelling story of a women’s seemingly never ending triumphs that help her to grow and form into a mature adult. Jasmine, the main character, goes through many stages and with those stages new personalities, to endure the hardships she faces. A theme that runs constantly throughout the novel is the theme of hope. The theme of Hope is shown in the novel Jasmine when Jasmine gets raped, when her husband dies, when and lastly when she has to choose between her lovers. Hope is a feeling that what is wanted can be grasped or that events will turn out for the best. Without hope, Jasmine wouldn’t have made it through all the dreadful events that occurred in the novel. When Jasmine accumulated what was left of her after the recent events in India, she got herself to move to the states. She traveled on ship and while on the long journey the unthinkable happened. On the ship ride to New York, Jasmine was raped. Today there are thousands and thousands of rape victims, and majority of them say that they will never be the same. The U.S Department of Health and Human Services surveyed the victim symptoms during the aftermath being raped. Some symptoms are nightmares, decreased appetite, eating disorders, menstrual pain, suicide attempts and post traumatic stress disorder. Being raped is a traumatizing event, and the overall effect of it depends on the way the victim handles it. A victim can see it as an event that can build character and strengthen them as a person or it could be the very thing that breaks them. Jasmine once again picked up her broken self and tried her best to get over the gruesome event. She got the New York, and there she began to rebuild herself from after the death of her husband and the rape. She made friends, left the past behind and moved toward her future. Hope played a role in this event because after being raped, she could have told herself that she didn’t want to move on, or that she was worthless,...